Since both teams were relegated from the Premier League last season, the fortunes of Stoke City and West Bromwich Albion have varied significantly.

In the case of West Brom, the club still have the same head coach in charge in Darren Moore, and they are fourth in the Championship having scored the most goals with 59 so far.

Stoke started the season with Gary Rowett in charge and now have Nathan Jones leading the club after he was brought in from Luton Town.

Jones was introduced after early struggles led to Rowett's dismissal last month, and the Potters are now 15th in the league, but with their new boss maintaining the losing theme after four defeats from his first five matches in charge.

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The two teams meet tomorrow team-time with Jones hoping to transform his side's current predicament. In order to do so though, he'll have to address the key tactical flaw in his system.

Presently at Stoke, Jones appears to be implementing the system that he's most commonly associated with - due to its success at Luton. It's essentially a 4-4-2, with the midfield bank of four forming a diamond shape.

It's perhaps no surprise that he's looking to employ the concept that mustered an 18-game unbeaten run at his previous club, but at Stoke it appears to be causing problems.

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A generic issue with the typical diamond system is the lack of width the formation endorses. The midfield is diamond is commonly narrow to allow connectivity amongst players, and the strikers naturally look to score goals, so they consequently remain central. As a result, there's a reliance on the full-backs to become wing-backs and stretch the pitch by advancing up the field and supporting attacks from wide areas.

In their past two defeats, against Preston North End and Hull City, Jones has employed different players as his attacking wing-backs. Against Preston, it was Moritz Bauer on the right and Josh Tymon on the left (although Tymon was subbed before half-time and Bruno Martins Indi took over. A week later at Hull it was young Tom Edwards on the right and Martins Indi, a natural centre-half, on the left from the start.

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When playing the role, the two players have to remain high when their team has possession, otherwise everything becomes focused through the centre. One major negative related to this, though, is that whenever Stoke lose the ball, the two wing-backs have to retreat quickly back into position, and that is easier for some than others. Martins Indi was caught out a couple of times at the KCOM Stadium.

This is essentially what Stoke have suffered from recently, especially those previous two contests.

Vs Hull

In the first example shown below against Hull, an image has been taken at the moment in which Stoke lost the ball.

Stoke lose the ball - and they are exposed immediately (Image: WyScout)

Clearly, the high positioning of Jones’ wing backs in order to provide width has resulted in immediate defensive exposure for his centre-backs. When Hull won the ball, they essentially had a 2v2 with excessive space to attack, as shown below.

Stoke's centre-backs are left two-on-two (Image: WyScout)

Vs Preston

A similar situation occurred in the match a week before against Preston, as shown below. Stoke had started with three centre-halves, as against Leeds, but quickly changed to a diamond midfield once Preston got on top.

Stoke lose the ball once more... (Image: WyScout)

But this too had its flaws when the ball was lost by Stoke. As a consequence, the centre-backs had to cope with immediate vulnerability once more. Both Martins Indi, who by this time had replaced Tymon at left wing-back, and Bauer were caught ahead of the play, and Ashley Williams tried to resurrect the issue by being assertive. That assertiveness failed though, and resulted in the scenario pictured below, which was a 3v2 this time.

But the defence is outnumbered, giving Preston a chance to score (Image: WyScout)

Vs Leeds

In Jones’ only victory at Stoke so far though, his team played using a 3-5-2 shape, perhaps due to what he perceived as the attacking strength of Leeds. The 3-5-2 provided the defensive assurance for his centre-backs that the diamond formation doesn’t, as shown below.

In the image, Leeds had just progressed into the final third after winning the ball back fairly recently, but Stoke had enough defenders to cover the situation, and the team didn’t concede.

So what does Jones do?

Ultimately, the answer to Stoke’s current tactical issue doesn’t lie solely with the 3-5-2, but it does point towards altering the diamond formation at least to incorporate more defensive cover for his vulnerable centre-backs.

So given that the league’s top scorers are in town this weekend, you'd think Jones would again look towards introduce more defensive assurance against the Baggies, which might even suggest reverting to 3-5-2. That said, don't be surprised if he remains committed to his diamond formation.